It says everything about where the All Blacks could get to that their attack can vastly improve.
Six tries and a bonus-point victory to open their Rugby Championship campaign suggests the All Blacks shredded the Pumas in Cordoba.
The reality, though, is a different story.
Three of the All Blacks’ strikes came from their powerful maul. Will Jordan sparked one try with a piece of individual brilliance to set up Cortez Ratima, and Sevu Reece finished two movements on the edge.
While the All Blacks forward pack largely laid a front-foot platform through their dominant scrum, flawless lineout and exceptional maul, the backline flattered to deceive at times.
Collectively, the All Blacks made two line breaks – half as many as the Pumas.
There were bright moments, sure, but with dropped balls and forward passes, the backline execution often left a lot to be desired.
Improving the second-half discipline that allowed the Pumas to surge back into the contest and whittle down a 21-point lead is a major focus but so, too, is improving their precision, after several clunky moments from the backline.
As the All Blacks prepare for the rematch with the Pumas after moving from Cordoba to Buenos Aires, assistant coach Jason Holland assessed their attacking growing pains.
“There was a lot of good stuff in the first half especially. If we were more accurate and got a bit more ruthless, we could have been more ahead at halftime,” Holland told the Herald in the Argentina capital.
“There were a few average decisions in attack, otherwise we could’ve scored a couple more tries. The skillset stuff let us down.
“That’s the challenge at this level. We need to be better. We need to be able to put more moments together where we have good skillsets and go to where the space is.
“We’re doing a lot of good things. The boys are working really hard. We’ve got to make sure we can be accurate for longer.
“We’ve got to get some continuity in our game and we’ve got some good ideas around how we get that. The skillset part is massive – being able to get passes away under pressure, understanding teams are going to want to take away our time and space and how to beat that.
“We’ve still got lots of areas we want to improve but at other times we put the Pumas under massive pressure through our game. We’ve just had a bonus-point win in Argentina. They’re never easy to come by so there’s a lot of good. We’ve just got to find all those little ways to be better.”
Recent changes are likely contributing to the lack of accuracy from the backline.
Five starts into his test career, Hurricanes centre Billy Proctor – who didn’t take part in last week’s captain’s run due to a soft muscle issue – is experiencing an adjustment period as he’s yet to replicate his attacking potency from Super Rugby Pacific.
Wider out, Rieko Ioane’s switch to the wing has been punctuated by frequent errors.
While Ratima stepped up in his promotion to start last weekend, the All Blacks are also missing Cam Roigard’s booming boot and running threat.
“Billy has slotted into the group really well and isn’t afraid to lead at times, especially around things he’s a real expert on, like the defensive side of the ball,” Holland said.
“We know Billy is really consistent in everything he does and he just needs to keep striving to do that.
“Him and Jordie [Barrett] have been going really well together but whenever any of our other midfielders, like big Jim [Timoci Tavatavanawai], Quinn [Tupaea] and Anton [Lienert-Brown] have got the chance, they’ve put lots of pressure on.
“There’s great competition. It’s good the boys know they’ve got to front every week.
“Everybody knows as a head coach, Razor is prepared to make big decisions so guys are on edge, knowing they need to front. The wingers are no different. You look at Emoni [Narawa] and Leroy [Carter], who have been around. They’re training really well.”
The All Blacks are unlikely to make many changes – other than welcoming Tamaiti Williams and Wallace Sititi back – as they seek continuity and cohesion, but there will be at least one tweak to the bench after Patrick Tuipulotu sustained a concussion that required him to be checked at the Cordoba hospital post-match.
The All Blacks will either ask Chiefs blindside Samipeni Finau to cover the locks from the bench or call up Josh Lord but with three locks – Fabian Holland, Scott Barrett and Tupou Vaa’i – in the starting team, it’s not a pressing concern.
Lienert-Brown must also pass concussion protocols stemming from his late yellow card for a head-clash tackle to be cleared for his bench role.
“Patrick had a glancing blow with their loosehead prop’s head,” Holland said. “I’ve just come out of a lineout strategy meeting so he’s got concussion symptoms but he’s thinking pretty clearly around the lineout for the week. He needed to get checked up and he’s unlikely to be ready for this weekend. The medics will keep an eye on him for the next couple of days but I don’t think it’s too serious.
“Once again, with what he added when he came on, with his carry and energy, was outstanding. You always lose something when you lose someone like him but the depth is really important to us.
“We’ve got lots of bodies so it will be another opportunity for someone else. Nothing will change in the way we play.”
Last year, the All Blacks responded from their shock loss in Wellington to shut out the Pumas at Eden Park the following week. This time, they are wary of a form reversal and are therefore likely to pay the Pumas due respect by naming their best available team, which could include room for at least one test debut.
“The Argentineans will be passionate around the game again. By their own standards, they might have been a bit off physically in the first half. I think I heard Felipe [Contepomi] giving them a rev at halftime and they were a bit of a different team physically in the second half.
“Generally we know each other’s game pretty well but we’ll make a few tweaks to get an element of surprise so we can hurt them in different places – but we’ll have to be on and we can’t give them anything easy or they’ll hurt us.”
Liam Napier is a Senior Sports Journalist and Rugby Correspondent for the New Zealand Herald. He is a co-host of the Rugby Direct podcast.